Computer networks such as the Internet are a boon to people who like to socialize. Social computer networking websites provide a platform to users from all over the world to interact and share views on topics of similar interests. Social computer networking websites provide advancements especially in communication and self expression to various users. The users may create or join virtual communities based on their interests and can also share one or more resources via these virtual communities. The users can use the social computer networking websites to be in touch with their friends who are remotely located, to manage their contacts, to post their music, photos, multimedia content and other works so that their skills could be noticed by other professionals. The social computer networking websites may be used by various companies to enhance their business. The companies may use these social computers networking websites to promote their services and products. Further, job seekers and those who need to promote themselves online may also use social computer network as a way to achieve their goal. Many people use social computer networking websites for exchanging information about entertainment topics. These websites can be accessed from different types of devices, like PCs but also set-top boxes, Digital Video Recorders, Smart TVs and Home Media Gateways.
Typically, a user has different alternative of sharing the information of a currently watched and/or scheduled multimedia content with friends who are geographically remote from them. Examples of multimedia content include television programs, Internet videos, video-on-demand, Internet radio and so forth. The user can call his/her friends on their phones, or use a Short Messaging Service (SMS) or an instant messaging service to inform his/her friends about likings, plan to watch or discuss about the multimedia content. Alternatively, the user can communicate with his/her friends through videoconferencing or regular phone lines for exchanging information and coordinating a specific time to watch a future scheduled TV program. The user can also use standard E-mail for sending invitations and asking friends to watch future scheduled TV programs together with them. All back and forth coordination of these attempts is done manually and may also involve different types of devices.
Generally, young and mature users engage in message sharing activities through these social computer networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, and so forth. The message sharing activities also provide them a channel to share information about the multimedia content such as TV programs currently being watched as well as future scheduled TV programs with their friends or family members located in different part of the town. The users may require various stand alone equipments or applications to achieve all these features. However, performing all of these steps manually may be complicated.
In light of the above discussion techniques are desirable to establish and manage interactive multimedia communication among different users to achieve information sharing.